


City Down

by Crystalshard



Category: Pacific Rim (2013), Tron - All Media Types, Tron: Evolution
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-18
Updated: 2013-07-18
Packaged: 2017-12-20 13:28:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/887821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crystalshard/pseuds/Crystalshard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anon and Quorra are the pilots of the Jaeger Shining City, and they have a new kaiju to fight. Its name is Reco. </p><p>(This is the Tron fandom, there will be heartbreak. Again, part of the Great Tron <strike>Kaiju</strike> Hivemind collection of Pacific Grid works.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	City Down

Shining City's armor creaks as the kaiju named Reco grapples with them, Anon and Quorra both wincing at the pressure fed back to them via their circuit suits. It's locked onto their back, City's arms pinned to its sides, and sparks fly as the kaiju tries to bite. Their only advantage here is that its mouth is too flat – too shark-like – for it to bite down properly. 

_Elbow rockets,_ Anon thinks, and Quorra sends back wordless agreement as she picks up what he has in mind. They've fought together too long not to be in sync, taking down seven kaiju in their time. This will be the eighth. They can't let themselves do anything other than win, because if they lose even once, it's Game Over. 

They start the rockets heating up as they stomp on a protruding spike of silicon bone that extrudes from the monster's knee. Reco screams, distracted, and then both the rockets fire. With their hands bound, there's only one place for the energy discharge to go. 

Reco's grip loosens, and they drag themselves away. Red and amber error warnings are coming up on screen, but Shining City is still responding, and the Drifted pilots ignore the pain and the damage and spin around to face the kaiju once again. Icy water surges around them, and both of them know that the Canadian city of Prince Rupert and all its remaining population is only a few miles behind them. 

The Plasmacaster on their right arm – Quorra's – isn't responding, but Anon's is, and it powers up with a whine. Her fist, however, still functions just fine. 

She strikes, leaning into the punch to increase its power, and Anon leans with her. He's the one who holds her back from overextending, though, and together they manage to knock off another spike. Reco could just as easily be called Porcupine, in Anon's opinion, and Quorra laughs in his head as he thinks it. 

They both have the idea together, and Quorra turns her hand to grab the falling bone strut. She holds it like a dagger, and Anon slams the Plasmacaster right against one of the blackened burn marks where the elbow rocket scorched the kaiju. As hoped, its armor was weaker there, and the plasma bolt punches through at point-blank range, mangling its innards. Bright blue blood spurts out of the newly created hole, and Anon muffles his mental scream at the pain of the acid eating his/Shining City's hand. 

Reco lurches back, and Anon dips his hand in the churning seawater to wash away the corrosive liquid. It's enough, and within seconds they are back in the fight. From a distance, the kaiju leaps, and Quorra throws the spike once it's in the air. 

Her aim is perfect. The spike slots through the hole left by the Plasmacaster, sticking out maybe twenty meters, and Reco spasms in midair. If it wasn't dead when the spike hit it, it will be soon. 

Anon realizes first, and then Quorra knows because she's inside his brain and how could she not? Reco is still on its arc towards them, and Anon takes the lead and tries to throw them sideways. It's enough to get Quorra's side of the Conn Pod out of the way . . . but not Anon's. 

As they fall back, Quorra sees the cranial viewport shatter and the top of the jagged, broken end of the bone spur come through it. She feels Anon yank himself out of the Drift just as the thick spike hits him, and the shock of the neural handshake being broken so abruptly is too much for her. 

She passes out before Shining City hits the seabed, the dead kaiju pinning the Jaeger to the ground. 

* * *

It's probably shock that keeps Anon from feeling the pain of his crushed lower body . . . that, and he suspects that his spine is broken. There's red blood diffusing through the water around the kaiju bone that wiped out the lower half of his side of the Conn Pod, and he's sweating even though the water of the North Pacific is only a few degrees off freezing. 

Somehow, maybe because the bones shard is pressed so closely against his drivesuit that there is no air gap, there is no water inside his helmet yet. He's still breathing even as he can feel himself fading, but Anon holds onto consciousness with the same unshakeable will that's brought him through battle after battle. Turning his head, he looks at Quorra. Unconscious, but she's alive and her suit is intact. Sparing a moment of thanks that Shining City is a Mark III and they have oxygen lines to their suits, he reaches over – his arms are still functioning – and flips the manual switches that will eject her safely. The pod assembles itself around her, flushing the water caught up in it to provide her with a sustainable atmosphere. City's power is low, but it's enough to get her out of the broken Jaeger. 

He watches through the viewport until her escape module disappears into the dark murk above him, then watches the flickering holo-display on Quorra's side until it confirms that she's broken the surface. 

She'll live. Smiling, he lets go, and the dark wraps around him softly as the Jaeger fades away.


End file.
